At our recent conference the Party backed a new policy paper on Democracy and Public Debate.
This is what I said in support
Conference, As we saw from the debate last Autumn, policy on public debate and free speech is a difficult one to get right, particularly online. We have to make sure as a party that we find the proper balance between the right not to experience harm online and the right to freedom of expression.
I admit that none of us are going to agree with every single word of a policy document when the digital world is moving so fast but this is a good motion and we need to make decisions.
I spent 6 months of last year on the Joint Scrutiny Committee looking in detail at the Government’s flawed proposals for the regulation of online harms in the draft Online Safety Bill. We heard evidence from a great number of witnesses about the grievous harms such as revenge porn, cyberflashing, trolling, encouragement to suicide and racism, being experienced online, in particular by children, and those with protected characteristics.
We also heard about the potentially dangerous impact of online platforms on our democracy in the way their algorithms and business models target messages- often extreme-using our own behavioural data.
Frances Haugen-the brave former Facebook now Meta employee in particular gave us a vital insight into the threats to our democracy from online mis and dis-information and the platforms’ failure to take adequate action.
The January 6th Riot at the Capitol in Washington was fuelled by Social Media. We now know the reality of Russian interference in Presidential elections and the Brexit Referendum via opaque social media accounts.
People should have the same rights online as they have offline and we must also recognize the unique dangers that online access sometimes poses.
The Online Safety Bill is due to be published this coming week. The Elections Bill is going through Parliament. We have new digital competition law coming down the track. If we pass this motion today it will give us a distinctive Liberal Democrat approach that we can be proud of.
Our Digital Bill of Rights will set out the principles of the approach. In particular : the right to free expression and participation online without being subject to harassment and abuse which should underpin our Party and Society.
We must regulate so we ensure platforms comply with these principles, are audited for their policies and processes in terms of treatment of users and dissemination of illegal content monitored on how they respond to infringement and sanctioned for failure, with the Communications Court as a backstop.
Media and digital literacy too, so strongly emphasized by the Democracy and Public Debate paper, is vital too. We need, as it says, to combat misinformation with critical thinking.
Conference this motion combines principles, regulation and education in the right proportion. Please back it overwhelmingly.
